It has been a rough go for me of late on the field of bloodless battles we call sports. Not sure how you are all handling things, but this piece is not about you. It's about me. So let's establish that first and foremost.
To start, let's get the wonky "inside baseball" stats out of the way, even though my favorite spectator sport doesn't begin in North America, Latin America, South Korea, Japan, and other outposts with divine diamonds, until pitchers and catchers report next month.
My New York Knicks (fact check, author not owner, but fan, so stop "Baiduing") are muddling in mediocrity, while my fave, "The Madge "from Mickeytown in Orlando, are proud owners of the NBA's rottenest record. I guess the team can take heart that they're a short Uber ride away from Disney World and its motto "where dreams come true".Throw the local team making the postseason into that dream catcher I suppose.
Stepping things down a notch, in NCAA hoops my Syracuse Orange men are suffering something akin to an early frost, freezing out the annual citrus crop.
Switching over to football, as in the sport where use of hands is not only legal but encouraged, my Buffalo Bills just suffered perhaps the worst loss in their 62-year history after an overtime playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Same foe and fate last year. Deja vu all over again? Couldn't help think back to 22 years ago to the Music City Miracle, at least that's what Titans' fans call that "lateral". This you may Baidu.
NFL fans sometimes refer to the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team". Perhaps the equivalent in China is the women's national volleyball team? Both are high-profile squads with impressive performance records. But both crashed out of recent competitions－NFL playoffs in the former's case and the Tokyo Olympic Games in that of the latter.
So fans of these two teams have endured their share of heartache, but they only seem emboldened to cheer even harder going forward. I for one admire their spunk, spirit and stoicism.
Watching "Bills Mafia", the Cosa Nostra-inspired moniker of the Western New York gridiron gang, react to the shocking finish to the KC division playoff game, I was surprised to see them adopt a general attitude of "we'll get'em next season".
And finally, switching to the hard courts Down Under, some of my personal "racketeers" like Anisimova, Kvitova, Gauff and Opelka were sent packing earlier than I had hoped from the Australian Open.
OK, sports rant officially over. So why did I subject you to this highly subjective defeatist diatribe? Perhaps to show that professional sports, at least for the spectator, and perhaps even for the participant, is at heart a harmless exercise in escapism, and win or lose, the drama, like a Greek tragedy, can provide a cathartic release that constantly cleanses the soul.
When sports fans let their teams' losses linger on past due dates, then fandom flirts with dangerous obsession. I remember complaining one year about the early departure of America's other team: the New York Yankees from MLB playoff participation. My teenage niece from the banks of the Hudson－who is wise beyond her ears and between her ears－responded with a dismissive: "First-world problem," accompanied by a wave of the hand. She's right. Sports are a great escape from life's problems. But when things don't go as planned, they should not be an addition to life's problems. Besides, the Winter Olympics in Beijing are in full swing, with the Superbowl, Spring training and March Madness coming soon.
Contact the writer at andrew@chinadaily.com.cn
A. Thomas Pasek
